Artificial intelligence and crm: a powerful combination
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 4:06 am
CRM is undoubtedly one of the most important business tools in the modern world. However, while CRM on its own is a powerful technology, its current evolution is deeply shaped and driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Let’s think about it. The volume of data generated daily has increased exponentially. A staggering 2.5 billion gigabytes of data are produced every 24 hours. But this is small compared to the 463 exabytes that will be created every day by 2025, according to the World Economic Forum. Of this huge amount, 90% is unstructured data. The role of AI within a CRM then becomes essential.
Furthermore, data growth means a prior growth in transactions, interactions, touchpoints, and it also means an increase in potential customers. Therefore, a CRM platform is required that better collects, stores, manages, and centralizes historical interactions; and in turn, can extract, analyze, and interpret data in real time. This means obtaining information from structured data, but also from unstructured data, which is the majority. This is precisely the role of AI. Data mining and AI are a perfect match, and around 44% of executives believe that the greatest benefit of AI is automated communication that helps in decision making.
Structured and unstructured data
Once unstructured data is converted into structured data, machine learning can find patterns of customer behavior and provide critical insights for the business. Obviously, more data means more hungary whatsapp lead knowledge and a deeper understanding of consumers. Therefore, as a CRM becomes more and more intelligent, it provides more valuable and accurate information that businesses then use to make better decisions and optimize sales processes.
Today, there are several CRMs that have invested in AI to offer a much more powerful service, Salesforce among them. However, there are many reservations or misconceptions regarding Artificial Intelligence. Many think that AI-based tools are too expensive, not very useful or focus only on process automation. But there is much more to it. Below, we will see the different benefits that AI brings to a CRM.
Main benefits of AI in a CRM
Increased sales: The volume of data processed by AI is much greater. Data is transformed into knowledge. And knowledge is power. Essentially, more accurate information, such as behavioural and purchasing trends, leads to better decisions and optimised sales processes, marketing campaigns and customer communication. Salesforce estimates that the use of CRM applications can increase sales by up to 29%.
More specific segmentations: AI-powered CRMs allow you to create very specific audience segments taking into account geographic and demographic data, but also psychographic, behavioral data, sentiment analysis, among others.
Time optimization: AI eliminates many tasks that were previously done manually (entering customer data, cleaning data, etc.). This not only reduces human errors; it also saves time and allows employees to focus on other tasks. It is estimated that sales representatives only spend a third of their time actually selling and a fifth of their day is spent on CRM administration tasks.
Increased employee productivity: As AI is able to take over manual processes, employees can focus on higher value-added activities, for example, creative thinking, sales management, etc.
Improving customer experience: Achieving a deep understanding of customer demands is the goal of every company. A customer who feels understood and satisfied is a happy customer. And a happy customer is a loyal customer. Thanks to the analysis patterns that AI extracts from customer data, companies understand their consumers better. This way, they can hyper-personalize communication, propose more individualized offers and generate an emotional brand-customer bond. Actions that will increase their satisfaction and consolidate their loyalty.
AI Applications in CRM
The integration of AI in CRM is extremely beneficial and timely for companies at any stage of their life. In addition, many areas are linked and optimized both internally and externally. Some of its main applications are:
Sentiment analysis
AI tools can analyze customer conversations and assess their emotions. Yes, it is possible. Using sentiment analysis, you can assess people's emotional state (positive, negative or neutral) in real time and know how effective your communications are, what are the best ways to respond, etc. This can mean an increase in sales of around 10%.
Why should you adopt customer sentiment analysis?
A happy customer is a loyal customer. That's why many companies seek to understand the opinions of their customers in order to be able to act proactively and optimize the customer experience.
SEE MORE ➜
Accelerated content production
By processing millions of data points across emails, comments, interactions, reports, and more, AI can return accurate content to prepare effective communications.
Recommender systems
By gaining a deep understanding of customer needs using AI, specific products are recommended based on their demands. This optimizes the personalization of the customer experience. Salesforce believes that this level of personalization can improve sales by 10%.
Sales forecast
Sales is the core area of CRM, and sales forecasting is one of the most popular functions. Using information obtained from data processing by AI tools, more accurate forecasts are made. Companies can then act accordingly and optimize their sales strategies.
Predictive lead scoring
AI helps you understand a customer’s readiness to buy. This allows you to focus your efforts on potential prospects, compare won vs. lost business, and uncover trends. Consider that 74% of businesses say that converting leads into customers is their top priority. This contrasts with 96% of visitors who arrive at a company’s website who are not ready to buy.
Predictive lead scoring, explained simply
Take traditional lead scoring to the next level through Big Data and machine learning.
SEE MORE ➜
Reduction in customer churn rate
It is easier and less expensive to retain a customer than to acquire a new one. AI tools can identify patterns and trends in the reasons for customer churn. As a result, the company can act predictively and reduce the churn rate.
Virtual Assistants
Everything you've ever dreamed of in an assistant. AI helps manage calendars, schedule meetings, make phone calls, take notes, follow up, and automate every routine manual task.
Data integrity
An AI-powered CRM keeps data as optimized as possible to avoid inaccurate predictions. It can detect potential problems and notify users for error correction; remove duplicate data; search for incomplete data in other systems; and suggest actions to update potentially outdated data, which can reach up to 70% of the total annually. According to research by Dun & Bradstreet, 91% of data in CRM systems is incomplete and 18% is duplicated. The consequences of this are devastating. It is said that 8 out of 10 companies believe that incorrect data disrupts their sales channels and 25% experience damage to their reputation.
Data capture
AI facilitates the capture of customer data from multiple touchpoints and other points such as social media, SMS, images, etc. with document capture, image and voice recognition technologies, among others. It also automates this data entry process thereby reducing manual work for employees. It is estimated that sales reps spend up to 17% of their time entering information manually.
Let’s think about it. The volume of data generated daily has increased exponentially. A staggering 2.5 billion gigabytes of data are produced every 24 hours. But this is small compared to the 463 exabytes that will be created every day by 2025, according to the World Economic Forum. Of this huge amount, 90% is unstructured data. The role of AI within a CRM then becomes essential.
Furthermore, data growth means a prior growth in transactions, interactions, touchpoints, and it also means an increase in potential customers. Therefore, a CRM platform is required that better collects, stores, manages, and centralizes historical interactions; and in turn, can extract, analyze, and interpret data in real time. This means obtaining information from structured data, but also from unstructured data, which is the majority. This is precisely the role of AI. Data mining and AI are a perfect match, and around 44% of executives believe that the greatest benefit of AI is automated communication that helps in decision making.
Structured and unstructured data
Once unstructured data is converted into structured data, machine learning can find patterns of customer behavior and provide critical insights for the business. Obviously, more data means more hungary whatsapp lead knowledge and a deeper understanding of consumers. Therefore, as a CRM becomes more and more intelligent, it provides more valuable and accurate information that businesses then use to make better decisions and optimize sales processes.
Today, there are several CRMs that have invested in AI to offer a much more powerful service, Salesforce among them. However, there are many reservations or misconceptions regarding Artificial Intelligence. Many think that AI-based tools are too expensive, not very useful or focus only on process automation. But there is much more to it. Below, we will see the different benefits that AI brings to a CRM.
Main benefits of AI in a CRM
Increased sales: The volume of data processed by AI is much greater. Data is transformed into knowledge. And knowledge is power. Essentially, more accurate information, such as behavioural and purchasing trends, leads to better decisions and optimised sales processes, marketing campaigns and customer communication. Salesforce estimates that the use of CRM applications can increase sales by up to 29%.
More specific segmentations: AI-powered CRMs allow you to create very specific audience segments taking into account geographic and demographic data, but also psychographic, behavioral data, sentiment analysis, among others.
Time optimization: AI eliminates many tasks that were previously done manually (entering customer data, cleaning data, etc.). This not only reduces human errors; it also saves time and allows employees to focus on other tasks. It is estimated that sales representatives only spend a third of their time actually selling and a fifth of their day is spent on CRM administration tasks.
Increased employee productivity: As AI is able to take over manual processes, employees can focus on higher value-added activities, for example, creative thinking, sales management, etc.
Improving customer experience: Achieving a deep understanding of customer demands is the goal of every company. A customer who feels understood and satisfied is a happy customer. And a happy customer is a loyal customer. Thanks to the analysis patterns that AI extracts from customer data, companies understand their consumers better. This way, they can hyper-personalize communication, propose more individualized offers and generate an emotional brand-customer bond. Actions that will increase their satisfaction and consolidate their loyalty.
AI Applications in CRM
The integration of AI in CRM is extremely beneficial and timely for companies at any stage of their life. In addition, many areas are linked and optimized both internally and externally. Some of its main applications are:
Sentiment analysis
AI tools can analyze customer conversations and assess their emotions. Yes, it is possible. Using sentiment analysis, you can assess people's emotional state (positive, negative or neutral) in real time and know how effective your communications are, what are the best ways to respond, etc. This can mean an increase in sales of around 10%.
Why should you adopt customer sentiment analysis?
A happy customer is a loyal customer. That's why many companies seek to understand the opinions of their customers in order to be able to act proactively and optimize the customer experience.
SEE MORE ➜
Accelerated content production
By processing millions of data points across emails, comments, interactions, reports, and more, AI can return accurate content to prepare effective communications.
Recommender systems
By gaining a deep understanding of customer needs using AI, specific products are recommended based on their demands. This optimizes the personalization of the customer experience. Salesforce believes that this level of personalization can improve sales by 10%.
Sales forecast
Sales is the core area of CRM, and sales forecasting is one of the most popular functions. Using information obtained from data processing by AI tools, more accurate forecasts are made. Companies can then act accordingly and optimize their sales strategies.
Predictive lead scoring
AI helps you understand a customer’s readiness to buy. This allows you to focus your efforts on potential prospects, compare won vs. lost business, and uncover trends. Consider that 74% of businesses say that converting leads into customers is their top priority. This contrasts with 96% of visitors who arrive at a company’s website who are not ready to buy.
Predictive lead scoring, explained simply
Take traditional lead scoring to the next level through Big Data and machine learning.
SEE MORE ➜
Reduction in customer churn rate
It is easier and less expensive to retain a customer than to acquire a new one. AI tools can identify patterns and trends in the reasons for customer churn. As a result, the company can act predictively and reduce the churn rate.
Virtual Assistants
Everything you've ever dreamed of in an assistant. AI helps manage calendars, schedule meetings, make phone calls, take notes, follow up, and automate every routine manual task.
Data integrity
An AI-powered CRM keeps data as optimized as possible to avoid inaccurate predictions. It can detect potential problems and notify users for error correction; remove duplicate data; search for incomplete data in other systems; and suggest actions to update potentially outdated data, which can reach up to 70% of the total annually. According to research by Dun & Bradstreet, 91% of data in CRM systems is incomplete and 18% is duplicated. The consequences of this are devastating. It is said that 8 out of 10 companies believe that incorrect data disrupts their sales channels and 25% experience damage to their reputation.
Data capture
AI facilitates the capture of customer data from multiple touchpoints and other points such as social media, SMS, images, etc. with document capture, image and voice recognition technologies, among others. It also automates this data entry process thereby reducing manual work for employees. It is estimated that sales reps spend up to 17% of their time entering information manually.